Book on ants reveals interesting aspects

“While Bangalore alone has 125 species of ants; the whole of United Kingdom has only 55. Ants of a particular species can jump 18 cm and shut their jaws at 198 km per hour. An average ant carries ten times its weight”.

These are some of the interesting aspects of a 208-page book “On A Trail With Ants: A handbook of Ants of Peninsular India” brought out by two entomologists of Bangalore.

Sunil Kumar, an entomologist, who has worked with the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and Ajay Narendra of Research School of Biological Science, Austrian National University, have explored the world of ants in their book, which was released by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Karnataka, Ram Mohan Ray in Bangalore on Monday.

Though ants are omnipresent, people’s knowledge about them has been very little. “They are one of the best ecological indicators. By studying ants, one can learn a lot about the ecology of the region”, said Narendra.

Ants are known for teamwork. Each ant knows and performs its role selflessly and diligently. Since their undergrounds nests are prone to fungus attack, they produce the required chemical that insulates their nest. “They come back home the same way they went out because they leave a trail of chemical called phermones all along the path”, Narendra said.

The book also throws light on the fact that ants had the highest biomass content among vertebrates. “If you put an elephant on one side of the weighing scale and enough ants on the other side, the ants will outweigh the pachyderm”, Narendra said.

A large number of ant species are found in Bangalore. “A total of 36 species of ants were seen in the backyard of one house in Basavangudi”, Narendra pointed out.

How does an average ant carry ten times its weight? According to Sunil Kumar, it is possible because the ants have six legs and a flat body that is close to the ground. “This makes a lot of difference in terms of gravitation pull”, he said.

The authors of the unique book, which also has 170 photographs of different species of ants and more than 20 illustrations, will be useful for not only students of entomology, but also the general readers.